Synopsis Jax and Chibs walk through the burned out shell of the clubhouse following the Irish bombing. It's a charred husk. Jax sees his failure everywhere.
"I did this," he says. Chibs doesn't disagree, but he finds the gavel and hands it to Jax. "We're going to fix this, brother. You hear me?"With Sheriff Roosevelt on the scene, Jax tells him he can't tell him who's responsible, but it's because they're trying to end a relationship. Roosevelt explains that the Sons aren't welcomed by Charming like they used to be, given how much havoc they bring.Jax tries to lay it out for Roosevelt, telling him plainly and honestly that he's trying to get the club back on a good path, but if Roosevelt looks into them right now about the school shooting, it's not going to help either of them.
Chibs assures Roosevelt they're going to put things right."I can tell you guys really believe that, not sure I do," Roosevelt says. He heads back to the station where Gemma is making a ruckus about Nero being locked up.At the station, Gemma pitches a fit when the deputies won't let her see him. She knocks one over and ends up in the holding cell with Nero.Even though no one was hurt in the bombing, she knows it probably has Nero thinking of putting distance between him and the club. She wants to be with him, but doesn't think she can leave her family and the club. She wants both.
At the moment, he's more worried about the murder charges against him.The Sons gather at Gemma's place.Jax checks on Tara and the boys in his old room. Abel wouldn't sleep or eat. Jax tells her they're going to Chester to sit down with the Northwest charter and explain what happened.
Tara tells him she's going to go get an ultrasound as a precaution.Jax gets a call from Ireland. He puts it on speaker phone.
"The council is prepared to offer you terms for your betrayal," Galen says, threatening to bomb the other charters if they don't go along.
Clay will be handling distribution, though Galen won't say how. SAMCRO has to ensure their buyers transfer to Clay, but they don't get a cut. "You wanted out, that includes profit as well," Galen says.Jax looks around his table and gets nods of approval from everyone. He tells the Kings he agrees, but then tells them Connor and their other guys are still alive.
The Kings are surprised.
"I told you I didn't want a war," Jax says.Chibs suggests they keep Connor a few more days to make sure the Kings' peace offer is real. Everyone agrees.Gemma gets dropped off back at her house. Jax asks her to tell Clay what happened and tell him to move forward, no privacy needed so no conjugal. (He doesn't know what happened at the last one.)The Sons ride out. Tara tells Gemma she's going to the hospital to work on her case with Lowen. Unser picks her up (and references his "Nazi owie" to Abel).At the sheriff's station, Roosevelt catches Tyne Patterson up on the fact the IRA bombed the Sons. He also tells her he thinks Nero was set up for the escort's murder, but she brushes him off, saying she's going to follow the hard (planted) evidence.At the hospital, Unser checks on Tara, who is shell-shocked. "I don't know what's more frightening: the violence getting worse or my ability to simply take it in stride. I see how living this way can make you...."
"Gemma?" he offers. He offers his help again.She tells him she's filing for divorce but seeking full custody. When he asks who's taking the boys if she goes away to prison, Wendy walks up. Tara suggests Wendy check on Gemma to build the trust."You're spinning a lot of plates there sweetheart," Unser observes to Tara.On the road outside Eden, two police on motorcycles pull over the Sons on bikes. Rat, with the "hardware" in a cooler on the seat next to him in the van, keeps going.Jax is polite to the cops, who inform them "gang colors" aren't allowed in city limits. Jax tries to diffuse the situation, but the cops are intent on hassling them and call in for a flatbed to impound the bikes and check all the parts to make sure they're not stolen. Juice gives the cops lip, calling one a coward, to the annoyance of Jax.When the cops get called elsewhere, they handcuff Juice to his bike and shoot out his tires. Juice gets angry and elbows one. Happy reacts, disarming the other, all while Jax shouts at them to stop.Jax tells them they know a scam when they see one."That's right we do, I've see 'Smokey and the Bandit' a thousand times. Love that movie," Tig says.The Sons hop on their bikes and ride off when the patrol SUV pulls up. The two motorcycle cops hop in the SUV and follow the Sons, catching up quickly. Juice gets in front of the SUV and slows down.Rat, who had been waiting up the road, pulls up alongside Juice and urges him to jump from his moving bike into the van.
Juice does, and it works. The bike lays down in the road in front of the police SUV, which flies off the road and flips. (The cops are fine.)They all cheer for crazy Juice.Later, they pull in to Three Point Lodge and after checking in, they confirm there are no warrants or anything out on them, which means the cops were dirty, probably part of the stolen bike parts pipeline.Jerry greets them and Jax sees that Bobby is there. Bobby asks to talk to him after.Gemma goes to visit Clay. She tells him the Irish blew up the clubhouse, but he should move forward with their offer.Gemma asks Clay if he has a sense how far Lee Toric would have gone. She wonders if he set up Nero to get at the club.
Clay is incredulous she's asking for help with her boyfriend.
Seeing as how she was forced to have sex with him yesterday, she figures Clay owes her.He tells her Toric was completely warped, and about the things he did and had done to Otto.Jax sits at the head of the big table, acknowledging that their actions affect all the clubs. He brings up his father, saying his fear and doubt made him vulnerable. He addresses his brothers:
"I'm here to tell you I'm not following that path, the choices I make are not because I'm afraid or because I have any doubts about the club. I watched my best friend get his head caved in to protect what we have here. We've all watched brothers die in the service of this club. There's two things you can do when that happens: you can run from the pain, bail; or you can allow it to burn in to your heart, to leave its mark, a constant reminder of the love that brought us all here. Sons of Anarchy is at a crossroads. Our clubhouse blowing up last night, that's a sign of the times, the end result of a bloody relationship with the IRA."
He tells them he wants them out of guns. He's expanding Diosa and rebooting Cara Cara in a warehouse down by the docks. He tells them they have a deal with the Irish to keep the peace, but they take a financial hit. But he says the club has no future in guns, they've had 20 deaths in the last two years, all tied to guns. He offers Redwood's help to any charter that wants to move in a legitimate direction.
He gets a round of table pounding in approval.Gemma barges in to Roosevelt's office at the station and finds Patterson in it on the phone. Roosevelt introduces them and gives Gemma the floor.She tells them what Toric was having done to Otto and that Nero was with her all night when the escort was killed, then he went to church in the morning.
"I know you want to find the devil who put the gun in that boy's hand, but it wasn't Nero," Gemma says."Then who was it?" Patterson asks. Gemma leaves.Roosevelt suggests that if anyone finds out what Toric did, given that he was on Patterson's payroll, it might not look good. She suggests they check his hotel.Roosevelt and his deputy head to Toric's room, which is untouched. It smells like bleach. They find a semi-automatic weapon under his bed, bottles of pills on his nightstand and a gun with a silencer in a drawer. Roosevelt finds his drugs and the bleach spot on the carpet where Erin bled out, plus two bullet holes in the floor.Patterson still isn't willing to let Nero go until the DNA from Toric's room is back, she wants Nero charged with murder. Roosevelt is annoyed.Back at the lodge, Jax checks in with Juice, assuring him he has nothing to prove. Juice isn't sure Chibs agrees.Tara calls Jax and tells him the ultrasound was fine. Ally Lowen arrives and tells Tara that Patterson is coming to offer her a deal.Bobby talks to Jax, who's expecting his Nomad transfer papers. Instead, they're transfer papers for Quinn, Montez and West to join Charming. Hopper got spooked by the explosion, but Bobby hand-picked these guys because they're smart, loyal and family men. He says he resigned as VP because he didn't know how to help Jax that way, but he could help by rebuilding the club.At the hospital, Patterson makes a pitch to Tara to turn in Jax on gun running in exchange for full immunity.Tara tells Lowen she doesn't need to think about it.Gemma stops by Diosa. Lyla tells Gemma there's someone waiting to talk to Nero.
"One of Nero's girls?" Gemma asks.
"Yes and no," Lyla says.Gemma goes to see who it is -- it's Venus Van Damme (Walton Goggins), the transgender escort who helped the Sons previously. She has a black eye. "I knew Nero had himself a new lady, I just didn't realize she was so substantial," Venus coos.
She explains that her mother Alice was one of Nero's early girls. Nero took pre-Venus in when his mom was locked up when he was 15. Nero was his "guardian angel." She's come to him again for help.
"I'm afraid I ran smack into a low-hanging branch on my family tree," she explains. Gemma assures her she's safe there.Jax, the Sons and the three new recruits report to a salvage yard in Eden. Jax and Happy take off their cuts and ring the bell, luring the guy over with a ward of cash. When Jax says an Eden cop sent him there, the guy asks what kind of car it is, confirming any doubt the cops are in on a chop shop ring.The Sons go in to collect Juice's destroyed bike.
They find brand new Harleys in the garage. They call the Eden cops.In the hospital, Patterson takes off her wig, lets down her braids and tells herself it's time to go "hood."
She finds Tara and tells her she's moving up the trial date and will be prosecuting Tara's case herself.The Eden cops come to the garage. Jax explains they took detailed photos of the bikes, just in case. Juice picks out the bike he wants. Jax tells the cops he wants to be sure nothing that happened today comes back on the club. He also asks for an apology. When one is not forthcoming, he decks one of the cops.The guys soak up the "sorry for my behavior today" from both of them.
"It's good to be back," laughs Bobby.